22 immutable laws of marketing Book Summary

Prashant Aggarwal
4 min readNov 4, 2021

22 immutable laws of marketing Book Summary

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing exposes the fundamentals of marketing as well as how to stay clear of violating these rules. Airplane makers don’t design airplanes without taking into consideration the laws of Physics. Yet, many marketers are trying to market an innovative idea without having the foundational law of marketing. This book, the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing seeks to resolve this issue by providing these fundamental rules.

1 — Law of Leadership

As a leader, it’s better to be the first rather than superior to your competition. Furthermore, it’s easier for you to become the very first one to make your mark on the minds of your customers than making them believe that your product is superior to the previous.

Examples of companies that have been successful from the beginning:

Firsts are also a failure when they are fundamentally a poor idea. The authors give an illustration that is Frosty Paws. Frosty Paws released the first dog-friendly ice cream and were not a huge success.

2. The Law of Category

Don’t make the brand your main goal. Instead, look at the areas where your product can be dominant.

3. The Law of the Mind

“The only thing that you can be certain of is what you perceive. If the universe is real, it is within your mind as well as the minds of others.” Al Ries. Al Ries

4. The Law of Perception

5. Law of Focus

Words come in different varieties. They could be benefit-related (captivity prevention) or service-related (home delivery) and related to the audience (younger people) or related to sales (preferred brands).

6. The Law of Exclusivity

The law states that two businesses can’t own the same term in the mind of a potential customer. The authors recommend not making use of money to buy the same word that someone else already has.

7. Law of the Ladder

Different brands are placed on different rungs of the ladder of a prospective customer’s hierarchy. Your marketing plan should be determined by the rung you think you are on within your customers’ minds. People generally will only take in information that is rational in relation to the various rungs on their ladder.

8. Law of Duality

Every market turns into one-horse races over the long run. Thus, the seven steps on the ladder will be two. The authors suggest Pepsi along with Coke as examples.

9. Law of Opposite

“The most fundamental method of positioning isn’t to make something completely new and unique instead, it’s to modify the existing thoughts in the mind to connect the dots that are already in place.” Al Ries

10. The Law of Diversion

11. Law of Perspective

12. The Law of Line Extension

13. The Law of Sacrifice

14. The Law on Attributes

15. The Law of Candor

To illustrate this the authors provide an illustration of Listerine. The company was known to promote using the slogan “The taste you dislike every day. Then, this negative became positive, as they promoted the notion that Listerine can kill germs.

In order to effectively apply this law the negative, you experience must be perceived by the majority as negative. In the next step, you must swiftly shift to positive thoughts.

16. the Law of Singularity

17. Law of Predictability

It’s difficult to forecast the future, particularly since the future depends on the choices your competitors do. Yet marketing campaigns usually take decisions based on forecasts about the future. Instead, create your short-term strategy with an aspect that is distinctive to your product. This can be integrated into your long-term strategy for marketing. It should be a direction rather than a set plan. Plans don’t have enough flexibility. The authors suggest incorporating the capacity for a lot of flexibility in your company. This way you will be able to cope with the uncertainty that is the nature of business.

18. A Law of Success

“Success in business boosts the high-level managers’ egos.” Al Ries

19. The Law of Failure

Failure is to be accepted and expected. Knowing your failures in advance can help you cut your losses. Most of the time it is best to stop your losses as early as possible instead of spending a lot of time and money trying to repair things.

20. The Law of Hype

21. The Law on Acceleration

22. Law of Resources

“Today brands are made, not born. The brand that is new must be able to attract positive publicity in the media otherwise it won’t stand an opportunity in the marketplace.”Al Ries — Al Ries

The most innovative ideas won’t take off without adequate resources. It is important to have money in order to begin to think and you require money to remain there. It is important to identify an idea, and then make the most of it through spending money.

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Originally published at https://prashantaggarwal.com on November 4, 2021.

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